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Matthew 24:15
So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand) … From Cain to Nebuchadnezzar, everyone who tried to conquer the Jewish, the People of the Covenant, did it forcefully through land and military conquest. In his Jewish Antiquities, Flavius Josephus gives a detailed account of Alexander the Great's visit to Jerusalem and the transpiring events that caused him not to invade and destroy it. Even though Alexander the Great did not conduct a military campaign against Jerusalem, the Hellenic empire is responsible for the historically most successful conquest of the People of God, and that through cultural assimilation. The Western philosophical Greek is as opposite to the Eastern covenantal Jew as day is opposite from night, but is commonly said, 'opposites attract!' When Israel had gotten truly addicted to Hellenism and even had a Greek appointed corrupt Jewish High-Priest, all Antiochus Epiphanes thought he had to do was to send his emissary with a list of reforms to put all of Judaism into his evil hands. He didn't expect the Maccabee revolt. From where I stand, the Maccabees may have won the war and rededicated the Temple, Antiochus Epiphanes may be dead, but the form of Anti-Semitism that he taught is still alive and vibrant. In his great graciousness and compassion Hashem gave us His Messiah. This Jewish, Righteous, and Torah-observant Messiah was high-jacked by Greco-Roman believers who in less than two hundred years displayed Him as a Roman god dressed as a Greek Adonis teaching Greek philosophy. Under a twisted ignorant interpretation of Paul's epistles, this identity theft of our Messiah included the same set of religious reforms initiated by Antiochus Epiphanes which are to stop observing the Sabbath, practicing circumcision, eating according to biblical dietary laws, and studying theology as per the Torah. As a Jewish believer, I find myself in awe that today, my non-Jewish brothers live by the same religious reforms as those pushed by Antiochus Epiphanes and even find myself shunned from their fellowship as one whose, to say the least, theology is overly influenced by Judaism. I wonder what Yeshua would think of the fact that if I want fellowship with non-Jewish believers, I have to live by Antiochus Epiphanes rules. It may be OK for others, but Jewish believers need another Chanukah revolt where with Matthias Maccabee we say "NO" to Antiochus Epiphanes' rules and live our faith in Messiah according to the terms of the covenant Hashem gave to His people. Maybe that Day will be the Day of Messiah. May Hashem give us another Matthias Maccabee who will stand for us and lead us into the cultural battle to defeat Antiochus Epiphanes once and for all! May it be soon Abba, even in our days.
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Romans 11:12, 18
Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!? Do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. “You find that as long as Sarah lived, a cloud hung over her tent … her doors were wide open … there was a blessing on her dough, and the lamp used to burn from the evening of the Sabbath until the evening of the following Sabbath …" In this scrap of tradition, Sarah’s tent is homiletically compared to Jerusalem typified by the Temple. The cloud is symbolic of the Shekinah of God’s presence, the doors of the temple being wide opened is an invitation to the world to the house of prayer (as Yeshua called it); the blessed dough is the showbread which miraculously never spoiled, and the lamp is the seven-branches candelabrum which burned continuously in the Holy Place. In the Book of Galatians Paul builds on this illustration. Using the concept that Judaism views Sarah as the great matriarch he says, But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. Then, using Isaiah’s allegory and adding the fact that that Sarah was barren (not Hagar) He quotes, "Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! Though Paul doesn’t quote it, the rest of the oracle says, Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes (Isaiah 54:1-2; Galatians 4:26).This is an illustration that Jerusalem, (the center of Jewish religion) is one day to open its doors to all nations. The next chapter of Isaiah goes on to call all nations to drink and be fed from the fountain of Jerusalem (Isaiah 55; Zechariah 14:16). Referring to modern history, I now will build on this concept. In their impatience while waiting on God to fulfill the messianic promise of the birth of Isaac, Abraham and Sarah brought Hagar into the picture. As Hagar bore fruit she despised and boasted against Sarah who was still barren and dry. In His own time, Hashem miraculously caused Sarah to bear the fruit of the messianic promise. In the end, though blessed by God because of beloved Abraham, Hagar paid for her attitude having to leave Sarah’s presence. For 2,000 years while waiting for the 19th century when Jerusalem would miraculously birth the present-day world-wide Messianic movement, the nations of the world, who did bear fruit unto Yeshua have done so while ‘boasting’ against the ‘natural branches’ in a doctrine called ‘Replacement Theology’, and even subjecting these ‘natural branches’ to horrible persecutions (or were silent in the face of it). Will the nations suffer the same fate as Hagar? The Text tells us that not, but that in the end Jerusalem will return to its rightful original owners, and that the nations will come and serve and worship God in Jerusalem, bringing in their glory (Isaiah 66; Haggai 2:7). For what it’s worth, there is an ancient Jewish teaching which suggests that Keturah, Abraham’s second wife after Sarah died, is actually Hagar returned (Genesis 25:1-6). Revelations 14:4
These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb. In the beginning of the Book of Numbers we learn about the redemption of firstborns (Numbers 3:45-51). Yoseph and Miriam brought Yeshua, their firstborn to the Temple to be redeemed. The functioning priest who did the redemption that day was Simeon (Luke 2:22-26). Since there is no Temple today there cannot be a functioning priest so the redemption ceremony that Jews currently practice is only ceremonial waiting for the days of the third Temple. Though non-applicable at this time, the principle is rich with teachings. I am a firstborn of my father and never was redeemed. Technically then, I belong to the descendants of Aaron. As an adult, I could redeem myself but I never did. In religious villages of Russia, firstborns of animals couldn’t be used for farm work. As a result, they were left roaming by themselves. They were dirty; they got into the garbage, messed up things and caused overall trouble. Maybe that’s my excuse for causing ‘trouble’ sometimes! Israel, as the biological descent of Jacob is called God’s firstborn (Exodus 4:22). Biblically speaking firstborns have a special status in the family. They receive a double inheritance and carry the role of patriarchs of the family, clan or tribe. The role of firstborn is not necessarily according to chronological birth. God often by passed it because of the unrighteousness of the actual firstborn. We see this principle at work in the cases of Isaac against Ishmael, Jacob against Esau and Joseph against Reuben. The idea of firstborn is linked to the idea of firstfruit. A harvest is dedicated to God by the waving of the firstfruit, of the first harvested omer. In the very same manner, a family of sheep or goats is consecrated to God by the giving up and consecration of the one who opens the matrix. The Book of Revelations tells us about the consecrated firstborns of the harvest of the earth. They come from the twelve tribes of Israel (Jacob’s descendants). They have been chosen and sealed by God with His Name and that of the Lamb. In essence, they are Messiah believers from the twelve tribes of Israel and they represent the harvest of believers from the whole world before the Father (Revelations 7; 14:1-4). Yeshua Himself is their Firstborn who represents them before the Father (1 Corinthians 15:20). We are approaching the end of the Omer counting season. On the first day of the Omer the first sheave of barley is brought to the temple for the dedication of the Harvest. This is the day Messiah rose. Later during the counting of Omer He appointed His intimate disciples, His firstborns harvest from the Land of Israel as His representatives to the rest of the tribes in Diaspora, and to the world (Matthew 28). On the fiftieth day of the Omer which is Pentecost, is the time for the firstfruit of Israel’s wheat to be brought to the Temple. On that day also Israelites and God-fearers from the whole world brought their firstfruit to Jerusalem. These became the firstfruit of Diaspora Israelites (Acts 2). Through them the Words 0of the Master were carried to the rest of the world until today. Hallelu-Yah! Hebrews 4:1
Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. The writer of the Book of Hebrews uses the the Children of Israel refusing to enter the Land because of fear as a platform to encourage a disenfranchised first century community of Jewish believers in Israel (Numbers 14:1-4; Hebrews 3-4). The two situations are truly analogous. The Children of Israel hear about the giants in the Land so they refuse to fight for it. As a result, they die in the desert and never entered God’s rest, the rest of finding a home where to build and settle their families; the home where they can finally put down their travelling gear down, live, exist, and multiply in a place that is their own by right. They were at the borders of receiving the fulfillment of that promise but they turned back due to fear fomented by lies (Numbers 14:2-3). The first century Israeli believers were in the same predicament. They were ostracized by their brethren; excluded from Jewish communities, synagogues, and the Temple. They had lost all civic privileges because of their belief in Yeshua. All they had to do change their woeful predicament was to ‘turn back’ from that belief and they would be restored into Israeli society, which sadly some did. The Book of Hebrews then uses the story in Numbers as mentioned in Psalms 95 (vs. 95:7-11) to encourage these first century Jewish believers to not lose faith like their predecessors did. The Psalms says: Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, … I swore in my wrath, "They shall not enter my rest." (vs. 7-11). Let’s go over that passage. ‘Today’ is a Talmudic way of talking about the Sabbath. In Hebrews, the Sabbath Rest of entering the Land is analogous to the idea of living in obedience to God through His Messiah. In essence a similar situation of obedience was presented to that new generation of fist century Jewish believers, and through the epistle, they were being warned of the dangers of turning their back on God’s promises because of fear just like their fathers did fourteen centuries before. This warning works for us today. So many hear the truth of Yeshua the living Jewish Messiah, but when they realize that kinds of havoc obeying Him will create in their lives, they refuse Him. They fear being ostracized from their families and their friends as their lifestyle changes. Obeying His Words in eating according to the Levitical diet and observing the Sabbath will certainly change their lives in many drastic ways socially and even financially, and some people do not want to go through that. Come to think of it is quite amazing because these are the things the early believers were faced with all over the Roman Empire. Their new faith in the God of Israel took them away from their idolatrous environment to obey God’s commandments and as a result they lost all civic privileges in Greek and Roman society. The days are coming and are already upon us when the Text of the Book of Hebrews will resound like a distant shofar: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts”. Act 2:3
And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. The English narrative that concludes God’s uttering of His Ten Statements at Mt. Horeb says, Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking … (Exodus 20:18). The Hebrew on the other hand literally reads, “And all the people saw the voices and the torches”. One may see a ‘torch’, but how does one see a “voice”? The question may have pushed English translators to stray from a literal rendition of the verse, but it did not puzzle Hebrew sages. Also, the congregation at Horeb was composed of people from many nations, so for everyone to ‘understand’ (a Hebrew synonym for ‘seeing’) the Ten Statements would have had to be uttered in several languages. How do you see a voice, and how does a single voice speak in many languages? When Moses recounts these events to the second generation of the Children of Israel in the desert he says, Then the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire (Deuteronomy 4:12). One of the sages saw this verse through the following passage, Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces (Jeremiah 23:29)? The sages of Israel have always described these events as the Voice of God splitting into seventy voices speaking seventy different tongues and that these voices were actually like hot sparks flying forth from a hammer’s blow on a stone and becoming tongues of fire. This may sound farfetched, but is it really? Fourteen hundred years after these events Yeshua, the Prophet like unto Moses, (Deuteronomy 18:15) came to give His elucidation of the Heavenly Voices. When He was on earth, like Moses He climbed a mountain and His disciples came to Him (Exodus 24:9; Matthew 5:1-2). Later, on the same Jewish calendar date as the Horeb events (Pentecost, or fifty days after the resurrection) as the disciples were celebrating the festival of Pentecost they saw these voices in the form of tongues of fire that gave them ability to speak in the languages of all the foreign pilgrims then present for the festival in Jerusalem (Acts 2:1-5). These ‘voices’ were later to be sent to all the world to reach out to the lost sheep of the House of Israel and to the nations with their message. Today we, as followers of the Jewish Messiah Yeshua HaMashiach, are these ‘Voices’ of fire from Sinai. Today, from where ever we are in the world we are God’s emissaries and apostles of the great message spoken at Sinai. I usually teach my students that the Words of the Ten Statements uttered at Horeb elucidated by God’s Agent Yeshua, constitute the solution to all of the world’s social problems. But the people must not only hear the message, they must also see it. They must see it in the exemplary walk of our lives. A tall order maybe, but a lot is at stake and His Spirit is ever present to help us. Truly, Yeshua ever lives to make intercession off us (John 14:26; Hebrews 7:25). May we not fail in our mission! 'A Few Good Men'1 Timothy 3:1 If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Mankind is of a rebellious nature. We are small, weak, vulnerable and yet as ironic as it may seem, we strive for independence at any cost. Human history teaches us that our thirst for freedom from even God-appointed human leadership has solely been quenched by the spilling of much blood. Mahatma Gandhi is known to have said to British officials then controlling India that, “Every man would prefer to have his own bad government that the good government of others”. Whereas countries do have their own right to self-determination, in theology today this principle translates in that mankind prefers to be led by his own distilled spiritual errors than by the Truth taught him by a God-appointed leadership.
The Father knows that we need leadership that’s He inspired Jethro to advise Moses to establish a council of elders. This council was to be called the ‘Court of Judgment’ or ‘bet-din’ in Hebrew. Authority was granted to individuals to help people find answers interpreting the Torah by the Torah. This council would later become the Sanhedrin. Just as people today refuse to answer to any human authority, it is not hard to imagine that there were some in the Children of Israel who resented that lower court in favor of wanting to solely refer to the higher court: of Moses (Torah). It is not hard also to imagine that a charismatic council member would draw much attention to himself thus provoking unbalanced loyalties from the people. These problems with human leadership exist today, and they certainly existed then; we see them plenty in the Bible. This is why these needed to be men known for their integrity men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, men to whom Moses would teach the statutes and the laws of God. Moses had the charge to make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do (Exodus 18:20-21). The disciples of the Master established leadership in the Messianic congregations according to the same blue-print. We see how at a time of crisis they felt the need to established leaders in order to judge petty matters within the community (Acts 6:1). Again, as in the Horeb blue-print, these men were chosen for their integrity; men of good repute and full of the Spirit and of wisdom (Acts 6:3). Also Paul established leadership over each and every congregation according to the same parameters. Hear his advice to Timothy on how to choose congregational leaders: an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive … dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain … their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things (1 Timothy 3:1-12). It is also noticeable that it was the people who chose these leaders who were afterward anointed and appointed by Moses or Paul. |
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